Gravity
by sora-doragon
Summary: An attack on Trabia Garden sends them on a mission. She has enough courage to save her old classmates, but not enough to tell him that she loves him. What's a girl to do? Selvine with small amounts of Squinoa. RR!
1. Ice Cream

Selphie sat in the cafeteria, eating a nice serving of chocolate ice cream. For some reason, it always made her feel better when she was a little depressed. Not that she was depressed... maybe just a little agitated.

She watched the perfect couple eating together. She agreed that Squall and Rinoa were the perfect couple. She wasn't jealous of them, just their relationship. It was hardly noticeable, but they were always touching. Like, holding hands or her head on his shoulder or him playing with her hair. It drove her nuts. She realized now that that was the reason she decided to go out with Zell.

Clearly, it had been a mistake. Their personalities had not fit together properly. They got into a fight (that she supposedly started) and he broke up with her the day before Valentine's Day. She wasn't mad at him anymore. She still didn't know why he got mad. But... it didn't matter. Their relationship wouldn't have gone the way she wanted it to. There was only one guy she knew she would be truly happy with... but, of course, she couldn't tell him that...

"Hey Selphie." He sat down across from her.

"Hey Irvine. How are you?"

"I'm alright. But what's bothering you? You seem awful down. Tell me what's bothering you."

She smiled at the nickname. "Am I _that _easy to read?"

He leaned back in his chair. "You're either sunshine or shadow... anyone could tell you're down from how much ice cream you're eating."

She looked down at her particularly large bowl. It was nearly empty.

"Well, Irvy, I guess you win."

"Good. Now you can tell me what's bothering you."

She wanted to tell him, but it always came out sounding silly. He would never see her point. She would say 'I'm lonely...' And he would make that irresistible smirk and say 'So am I...' and then laugh.

Sensing her hesitance, Irvine asked "Is this about Zell?" She saw some emotion in his eyes, but he quickly controlled it.

"No... look, I"m really making a big deal out of nothing and I-" She turned as she heard Rinoa squeal with excitement.

"Oh, Squall, it's beautiful!" Rinoa exclaimed as she threw her arms around his neck. Squall simply smiled.

Selphie rested her head on the table. "I'm very happy for them, but I also envy them. I want what they have. Is that selfish?"

"No. We're all looking for someone."

Typical Irvine answer, she thought. He pulled his hat down to shadow whatever emotion on his face.

She was amazed that someone could look so handsome without even trying. She smiles sadly. "I'm lonely, Cowboy."

"I am too..." He grinned as he looked up at her from his hat. "Want to do something about it?"

That grin. There was just something about it that made her knees go weak. If she had less self control, she would have jumped the table and kissed him.

He was carefully watching her. She attempted to conjure up the words for a reply. He had to know already that she was in love with him, but if she came out and told him, it might scare him away. That was the last thing she wanted to happen.

"Irvine, I-" The bells rang for the intercom.

"Good afternoon." Xu's voice echoed throughout the Garden. "All members of the Festival Committee please report to the Quad."

Selphie smiled. "Well, I gotta go."

He nodded. "I'll catch you later."

She ran off. He watched Squall and Rinoa for a few minutes. It made him sad to see Selphie so sad. But then, her moods would change so suddenly. The next time he saw her, she would probably be bouncing down the hallway with a huge grin.

The bells rang again. "This is Headmaster Cid. Irvine Kinneas, please report to my office."

"You needed me, sir?" Cid turned to him in his swively chair.

"Yes. Thank you for being prompt. I have a mission, and I want you to lead it."

"Me?" He said, confused. Usually Squall claimed leadership on SeeD missions.

"Yes. You may pick two other SeeDs to be in your party."

Irvine nodded. "What is the mission?"

"Well, Trabia Garden was just recently finished. They spent most of their funds on the renovations, and the students are weary from all the work. An undercover organization decided to use this time to attack."

"Trabia's being attacked?" He immediately thought of Selphie. Did she know? "Who?"

"They call themselves 'Gravija'. They are mixed in with the other students, so it's difficult to point them out. However, we have enough evidence to believe that their leader is a woman about your age, by the name of Rebecca Johnston." Cid stopped as Irvine froze. "Is there something wrong?"

"No, sir. When do we leave?"

"Tomorrow. We want you to take their leader down. You're our best sharpshooter, and she's very dangerous. Choose your party carefully and don't forget to junction your GF's."

"Yes, sir."

Cid turned back to his paperwork. "I would go tell your party to prepare so it won't be too short notice. Good luck."

"Thank you, sir." He tipped his hat as kind of a salute and left.

"Who will I choose?" He shook his head. "Rebecca... you've got to be kidding me..."


	2. Picture Frame

A/n: Woo! Chapter two! Thank you to my lovely reviewers! You make my day a whole lot better!

Chapter Two

Selphie bounced down the hallway, headed back to her dorm. The next festival was a coming in a few weeks! She had planned most of it, and knew the party would be awesome. She had a big stack of neon yellow flyers to post all around the school.

Meanwhile… Irvine was heading to his dorm from Cid's office. Who would he pick for the mission? Squall was a given. He was the best SeeD Balamb had (after Irvine, himself, of course). Quistis could not go because she still had to teach. Rinoa… he didn't want to deal with both of _them _together for that long. They were almost sweet enough to be sickening…

Selphie. He figured that he had planned on taking her from the start. Trabia _was _her old Garden, after all. She would probably throw a fit if he didn't take her. Besides, he hadn't seen her very much lately.

Lost in his thoughts, he ran into someone. "Sorry 'bout that, miss." He winked.

Selphie beamed up at him. "Quite alright, Irvy. What were you thinking about?"

"New mission, Selph. Cid appointed me as leader."

"Oh! that's great!" She replied.

"Yeah… I guess so." She obviously hadn't heard the news. "Anyway, he told me to make a party of three. Squall is coming… Do you want to?"

"Is that an order?" She asked playfully.

He grinned. "Well, I figured you wouldn't be able to resist…"

She smiled and stepped back from the comfortable place in his arms. She wondered if she _could _resist him. Most likely… not.

"All right! It's been forever since I got to go anywhere! How long will we be gone?" She asked, thinking of the festival.

"Hmm… I dunno, Sefie. It depends on how long it's gonna take us to finish."

"Oh!" Well, there was always next year. She hid the flyers behind her back. "What's the mission? Are we taking Ragnarok?" She beamed.

"Well…" The last time they took Ragnarok, Selphie demanded to fly it, of course. By the end of the trip, the had all found out, rather unpleasantly, that they had motion sickness. Not that she was a bad pilot or anything. Really.

"You remember that last storm? Well, the Ragnarok was damaged, so they took it to FH for repairs."

"Oh. Too bad then! I love to fly that thing!"

He didn't want to upset her… "Yeah, I know. But… we get to ride a train instead…" He winked.

She gasped. "Really? I love trains!" She jumped up and punched the air with glee, totally forgetting about the Festival flyers. She was going to be on a train, with Irvine! "Yay!"

Irvine grinned. It was amazing how little it took to make her happy. He didn't really understand why it was trains… but that was okay. He looked at the papers now scattered across the floor.

"Sefie, did you drop something?" He reached down to pick them up. The Festival? He had forgotten about it. Selphie was the head of the planning committee.

"Whoops…" She looked down a the scattered papers.

He stood up and handed the stack to her. "Sefie, you don't have to go if you don't want to miss the Festival."

She weighed it out in her mind again. The Festival she had planned for the whole year, or a train with Irvine? She would hate to miss the Festival, but she _really_ liked trains. And Irvine, of course.

"No, I'll go! I don't want to go to the party anyway if you aren't going to be there." So much for being secretive about liking him. But then, Rinoa always said that everyone but him knew anyway. Men could be so dense…

He smiled and ruffled her hair. Maybe he _did _know that she liked him, and he just wasn't saying anything. Oh well…

"I knew I could count on you, sunshine. Now, we might still get back in time to go."

"Ok." She beamed. "Well, I need to put up the flyers, so, seeya!" She turned to go.

"Sefie."

She turned back around. How she loved her nickname… "Yeah, Irvy?"

He wondered if he should go ahead and tell her about the mission. She hadn't asked where they were going. Irvine didn't want to ruin her good mood. He hated to see her sad, like earlier in the cafeteria.

He would wait until morning.

"We're leavin' early, so you might want to go ahead and get ready."

"K!" She bounced off.

He shook his head, wondering where she got all of her energy from. Squall walked up while he was thinking.

"Ice cream." Irvine realized, grinning.

Squall blinked a few times. "Kinneas, you make me wonder sometimes…"

"Oh, hey commander! Didn't see ya there. Ready for the mission?"

"As ready as I will be. I suppose you told Selphie already?" Squall was disgruntled that Cid had picked the sharpshooter over him. Cid told Squall that it _was _a sniper job, and Squall had quickly reminded him about the last time they hired Irvine for a sniper job. Cid just waved Squall off.

"Yep."

They started walking toward their dorms. It was a Saturday, so they had no classes.

Irvine was getting tired of the Squall-induced silence as they reached the dormitories.

Just before he started to say something, Squall asked, "You know Rebecca Johnston, don't you?"

Irvine was surprised that he said that so suddenly. But then, Squall was just like that.

When he didn't reply, Squall added, "Back at Galbadia? You don't ever mention anyone from there."

"How would you know that anyway?"

"Cid said you were startled when you heard her name."

"Well, that was the past."

"I know. But don't let it get in the way of the mission. She's killed many innocent people."

Irvine nodded. "I understand."

Squall opened the door. "Good. Well, I will see you in the morning."

"Date with Rinoa?" Irvine asked, grinning.

"Maybe." He walked inside.

oooooo

"…and now I won't have a date for the Festival dance!" Rinoa sighed as she looked in the mirror and brushed her hair.

"Sorry, Rin. Irvine said we might get back in time to go, though." Selphie was jealous because Rinoa was getting ready for her date.

"That would be good. Did he ask you to go with him?" She smiled at Selphie in the mirror.

"No. I told you… he doesn't like me that way."

"Whatever you sa-ay." She replied in a sing-songy voice.

"He doesn't!" Selphie exclaimed, aggravated.

"Well, Sefie," She smirked, using Irvine's nickname for her, "Squall and I think differently. Isn't that right, Squall?" She directed this at the Commander, who had just walked in.

"Yeah, whatever."

"Bye, Selphie!" Rinoa waved as she walked out the door." You don't even know what you agreed to, do you, Squall?"

Selphie shut the door behind them.

"I wish he did like me that way..."

She looked at the framed picture on her mantle. Irvine had bought the frame for her last birthday. It was shiny, and the moment she got it, she knew what picture would go inside.

Edea gave her the picture before she left the orphanage. It was of her and Irvine, playing cowboys and indians, she being the indian, of course.

Edea had been good at snapping pictures without the subjects knowing. Little Irvine and Selphie were captured forever, midconversation, walking back from the beach. He was holding her hand...

Selphie loved the picture. It always made her smile, thinking that maybe one day, he'd hold her hand again.

* * *

A/n: Good then! It makes me happy to use "disgruntled"! Next chappie, they'll leave and action will follow! Thanks for reading! 


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